The heat shielded M16 and the M203 is one of the best aesthetics for the AR-15 platform.

"Lol noob tube" - Unknown Viet Cong soldier

Retired Army here. Joined in '81 and volunteered to carry an M203 in every unit I was with. During initial training with it, was told it was an area weapon and was not to be used on individuals...I just smiled and nodded.

The weapon I carried in Iraq in 04 is a "Forgotten Weapon"? Am I old now?

Buckshot round: just the thing for ducks at 300 yards.

THOOMP.

Having fired a few practice rounds out of one of those I can confirm they are stupid easy to shoot accurately. Just eyeball and *thump*. My first shot ever with one landed square in the top hatch of an old m113 APC hull on the range. My drill sergeant just went "holy s*** private nice shot". Overall a great weapon.

I was the range control officer at a M203 range one summer. One weekend a unit didn't show but thier ammo did. The five of us were tasked to fire off all their ammo, back then it was a huge problem to return ammunition. This unit had every munition the M203 could fire. Every color of flair, every HE round, all had to be fired. I can tell you that it is possible that with a few hours of practice a soldier can lob a round through a vehicle window at 250 meters fairly consistently. It's a great weapon. 80's👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Regarding the story of this particular weapon: "It's dangerous to go alone, take this."

When charlie has you pinned, dont get mad, get GLAD!!!!

It's like the 240B: Cool at first until you are the one that has to lug it around. But a lifesaver when everything hits the fan.

"Allen! Switch to the M203!"

Say hello to my little friend!

It's weird watching an episode of this done on something I was issued. Really damned weird.

The thump of the air releasing is probably one of the most iconic weapon sounds I can think of

Predator was my favorite movie as a kid so getting to carry this in the Army felt pretty cool. Used to love taking the paint rounds to the range. Had huge plywood walls with windows cut out at various distances. Got to be pretty good at dropping one through. We always had to go pick up the metal parts of the rounds down range and that orange powder would be all over everything. Used to love finding an unbroken blue round full of paint and throwing it at someone and ruining their uniform for the day haha.

Slap this under MP 5 and then Resonance Cascade happened

I carried one for years when I was in the army (79-83). Kicked about like an angry 12 gauge and fun as hell. Very easy to use and 100% reliable. If you did not care about accuracy you could get 3 grenades in the air at one time on a long range target. You had to be careful because they sent us a batch of 40mms made for the Cobra helicopter auto-grenade launcher. A big no-no.

Ahhhh my set-up during my time in the 1980s Army, I loved the M203 but still drooled over the M79 we had in the arms room which we weren't allowed to use. The m79 was slated to be turned back in to be destroyed but our armorer was a Vietnam Vet who always managed to put it off one way or another.

“Phased Out” Marine Corps still has it and issues them out in 2019😅.

Small company: "Ooh, the military wants a new thing! I bet we can get mucho dinero if we can land that contract!" Small company proceeds to make thing that beats the competition. Military: "Aight, cool. We want 50,000 of them tomorrow." Small company: "Aw sheit. We can't make that many that fast." Bigger competitor: "But we can~!" Thing proceeds to become known for the bigger competitor with the smaller inventor company's name being left in the dust because of production amount by the bigger company. Story as old as time, I bet. Unless they do some crazy subcontractor shenanigans like you see with other companies.

Oh look it's the grenade launcher from *insert any one of hundreds of game titles here*

This was the weapon my father used in Desert Storm, as well as Dutch in Predator, and Scarface.

I can personally confirm these were still being issued as late as 2016, had one on my Colt M4

The summer of 69 really was the best I guess.

"Phased out" in 2008 *looks at my arms room, where we have this exact nam-era setup on half a dozen of our rifles still. Yeah. Phased out. EDIT: it's a joke, folks. I'm fully aware how phasing out works and the Army's inability to let things go.

I love this weapon! This is what I carried for desert shield and desert storm.

"Forgotten Weapons" MW2 Players: Let us introduce ourselves

82nd Airborne MP in late 70's and was issued one. On range one day we were shooting at doorway and window targets when I used the side mounted sights, cranked 'em to 400 meters and let fly; you could watch them like baseballs, the wind caught the rounds, carried them off the range, and they exploded in the tops of the pines at the end of the range. Other guys saw this and did the same thing, for a while. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye... or a range officer tells you to knock it off.

Thanks, Ian. I'm happy to see my old field wife again. I carried that combo for a year on Okinawa with the 3rd Marine Division in 1977. Loads of fun to shoot both weapons. With the grenade launcher attached it becomes easier to make accurate offhand shots with the M16A1 because the muzzle doesn't wave all over the range.

Oh, this brings back fond memories. Was a grenadier in Iraq and I absolutely loved my M203. Funny how he said most guys never used the sights because I can't recall ever using them. Once you know how it shoots it really is just about instincts.

When I was in the Army, I was issued one of these. Interestingly enough, the only time I ever fired a live grenade through one was in basic training (ONE round). I did fire many training rounds, however, and got quite good with the thing, even qualifying “expert.” You are right, even though the sights were relatively easy to use, with time, one did not really need them. The entire weapon was more tedious to clean, cumbersome, and did not lend itself to sling carrying. Since one always had at least a canteen on one’s LBE where the rifle would sit, it tended to be unwieldy (other slung M-16s nestled along one’s side while slung. This thing, when slung, more or less flattened along one’s back-where a pack or canteen typically sat). I mostly took it in stride as just another military inconvenience, but did like its “coolness.”

Always makes me think of Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Predator" =)

When my dad was alive he talked about having one of the first five sent the Vietnam. He was there during the Tet Offensive.

My father was issued this M16 with the M203 , when he was in Vietnam. I even have the Army's Operator's Manual for all the M16's versions. R.I.P. Dad. Thanks for showing this awesome peace of history , Ian. Also have a Happy Merry Christmas, Sir !!!!!!!!

Fun fact, the M203 HE round needs to spin a certain number of times to activate the fuse, MK-19 rounds do not...

Things always scared the hell out of me. A guy in the series before mine had one detonate in battery during training and it took his hands off.

As I mentioned in your last video, my Dad started and ran the Plastics Dept. at AAI (Cockeysville, MD) starting in 1966/67. At AAI he helped develop the Plastic Handgrip for the M203. Ian is 100% correct that AAI did not have the manufacturing capability to produce items in large scale. AAI was a design and development company that took projects such as the M203, figure out the best materials and manufacturing process and the the client would contract to another firm the mass production. At one time I had one of those Plastic Grips given to me by my father.

I've always loved the aesthetic of the M203 and its accompanying hangaurd. I don't know why i like it so much

The Grenade Launcher Attachment Development Program. Now, that's a GLAD I can get behind 😁

Saw the notification and couldn't help but remember the first time I tried one. Was such a good shot with it, the instructer gave me an extra round for fun.

I spent a lot of quality time with this weapon system in the Army. I found the ladder sight to be more accurate than the quadrant out to 200m, though like Ian says eventually I got to the point where I could get close enough just by eyeballing it.

I don't think anyone's forgotten about that masterpiece!

"Used until 2008" We definitely still use M203s

"Stop using a noobtube bro oh my god"

Whenever Ian mentions some kind of development program with multiple designs or entries, I always get excited. It’s like, “oh boy, future Forgotten Weapons content to look forward too!”

I love the m203 handguard, i wish i could find an aftermarket one that looks like that

This was my weapon when I was at Ft. Hood, Tx in 1983

One has to wonder, what did the Army do with the old M79, which was a great little gun in it's own right? Well some of them went to the FBI, who brought them out to local police department ranges, and encouraged the local PD'S to put in requests for them with the FED. The FBI did our qualifications shoots, as our local agent was a trained instructor. In addition to the old Model 19 Smith's that we carried, city issue guns you know, he also did the qualifications with the 12 gauge riot guns we carried in our patrol cars, and brought a few M-79's along with buckshot rounds, practice rounds and a few flechett rounds. Every officer was qualified with the M-79 on that particular session, the FBI dude gave us a brief instruction on the loading, aiming, and firing of the M79 (training I had received while in the Army prior to my police job) then we all got to fire 5 buckshot rounds for qualification. The old M79 does kick, and buckshot was fired from the shoulder instead of under the arm with the grenades so you got a real thrill from each round, but none of us had any problem qualifying with the gun we would never see again. I guess our FBI guy was not as good a salesman to the Chief as he thought he might be.

one of the few channels that mentions a subject/item to be further discussed, and then ACTUALLY follows through with doing so ;-)

i used this when i was in ROKA(Republic of Korea Army) man the memories it was fun shooting grenade rounds XD

"Say hello to my little friend!!!"

I love these things in Arma, I'm able to get them through windows at a couple hundred meters with some consistency. I very much prefer the quadrant sight

All this needs is the danger close pro perk.

The most badass looking M16 ever.

This was my assigned weapon in the Army for quite a while.....the thing I really hated-besides the weight- was that there's no good comfortable way to carry it in the hand and it was awkward to carry slung as well. It worked well, but definitely little thought was given to ergonomics....."yes sir we will just wire up this here grenade launcher up under this here M-16 and it WILL be good to go!"

How did an American soldier “give” it to a Canadian? I had to sign for my weapon and return it while enlisted. Sounds more like someone stole that weapon and smuggled it home to Canada..

Dutch: "if it bleeds we can kill it"

Hello Ian. I served in the USMC, starting in '78, and I am very familiar with the M203 Grenade Launcher and the M16A1 Rifle. The M16A1's improvement was to the buffer system, making the weapon's kick softer. The M203 was a joy to use and I can attest to the 'instinctive' firing one gains after only a few dozen rounds down range. After a couple hundred, you don't really need the post sights for the M203, and you gain an instinctive feel for what elevation is needed to drop the round on target at any particular range. Even though I was primarily trained as an 0341 Gunner (60 and 81mm Mortars), when I was posted to Quantico, VA as an Enlisted Weapons Instructor, I rapidly learned to use the M203, and several other 'heavy' weapons, and became both proficient and accurate with all of them. After a few hundred rounds down range, it became very easy to hit targets out to 300 yards accurately with little effort and no use of the sighting posts. I became accurate enough (after a thousand rounds or so) to hit 'bullseyes' an average of 7 to 8 rounds out of 10 fired down range at almost any range target, pretty consistently. And even after a period of several months of not firing the weapon, it only took a dozen or so rounds to regain my 'feel' for ranges and targets after a prolonged period of recovery from surgery (not service related, I first had all four wisdom teeth erupt at the same time with too small of a jaw, and then had problems with my appendix). Even though newer weapons systems have been developed in the past 35+ years since my service time, I still feel the M203 is a good weapons system overall. I envy those allowed to use the m32A1, in that such a weapon in my hands 35 years ago would have been even more 'fun' to use and teach to 2nd lieutenants at Quantico. Keep making your videos. I enjoy them and enjoy seeing others interested in the many types and kinds of weapons available for use by both civilian and military personnel. Speaking, Frank-ly

Carried one in germany 1984 with the 1st armoured division 1/54 infantry mailed foot. Loved shooting at the range..

It also has the side benefit of looking damn good

Absolutely gorgeous weapon system, love the 203 and the 20rd mags.

When the 1st Cav showed up in Quin Nohn in 1965 a lot of their Grenadiers were carrying a three round "M-79" like thing with a horizontal sliding breech "thing" that allowed them to have three rounds loaded. At the time I wondered how well it would work in mud and dust???? This would make an interesting segment for Forgotten Weapons.

awesome video, but i have actually read multiple books written by MAC V SOG soldiers that they really liked and widely used the buck shot round in the M79, it was the round they walked around with in the M79 and switched to HE if they needed too.

I had to lug one of these around during my army days...

Learning so much from these videos. Especially about R&D approaches, intended and/or theoretical use vs. field and/or practical use, and what factors for one option to replace another. Thank you!

Wow! That's awesome. Thank you for showing a M16A1 with AAI M203. I could never hope to own one but at least I (through this channel) have seen one.

You mentioned these were phased out in 2008, but we were still using these in the US Army during 2012 and probably longer.

I carried one of these when in seevice.

Don’t get mad, get glad *big fiery explosion*

I was an Army Infantry (11 Bravo) Grenadier, and used the M203 while I was in. I typically practiced on the range with chalk rounds because you can clearly see the range of where you hit on the target, without blowing said target to bits, which they preferred at Ft Benning! I also launched a lot of real grenades, but those Chalk round were fun, and left a big, orange chalk spray everywhere.

When I was in the 1st Cav Div in Viet Nam 1970-71 these were still referred to as XM203s. That may have been a carry over from when test weapons were issued for field testing or it may be that the local nomenclature hadn't caught up with the official one yet. Good weapon. IIRC we never had a malfunction. It did kick harder than an M-79 because it was on a rifle platform and was not designed for recoil when fired at a high angle. Some of my grenadiers got very accurate with it and could drop a grenade into the firing slit of a bunk with one or two shots. Not much penetration, though. I saw a hit on about a 4" diameter dead tree branch that just scattered some wooden splinters and blackened the wood but did not break the branch.

I like that Ian actually spaced out the movie armaments content. It’s like he knows what he is doing. 😁

Ian you left out that the launcher also shoots star clusters and parachute flares. While these may not seem as important as the he, hedp, or the buckshot rounds, they are used in coordinating fires I.e. shift/lift fire and to illuminate enemy positions. I carried an M4/203 in 2003/2004 during off with 3/325, and kept a buckshot in the tube during raids as I was number 1 in our stack... Thanks for the video!

Amazed how much simplier it got, and more useful.

Loved seeing this video. I was an M203 grenader troop in the early 80's as part of a USAF 44 member security police ABGD team. I also got to train on the M79. Old blooper! lol. Great memories.

“Say hello to ma little friend” -Tony Montana

Hands down my favorite weapons system.

A rather long story about the differences in the rounds for the M203 and the other breech locked 40mm US weapons. We were deployed to the UK in 1980 with the 10th Special Forces Group as part of Operation Flintlock. Some of our A Teams were equipped with the M203. The UK back then was considered “USAF territory” as far as stationing of any US military forces. Our ammo supply came out of UK based ammo sources. Common ammo such as 5.56 and .45 was relatively easy to find at the many of the USAF bases located around the UK at the time. We came up short in our search for 40mm for the M203, however. We put one of our young 55B ammo specialists on the case and he located a source at Caerwent Depot located in Wales. We were located over in East Anglia at RAF Sculthorpe, quite a ways away! We did not have our helicopters with us this year, so I was directed to take an M880 truck and drive with my ammo specialist over to Wales.We loaded the truck that morning and included 2 5 gallon jerry cans of gas figuring we could make it down and back on that. Anyone who has driven the UK back then would tell you that the Motorway network in the UK was not extensive and driving east to west could be an all day affair which it turned out to be. We arrived at our destination, received our shipment after checking against what the ammo specialist ordered, and were promptly told we could not travel with the extra mogas cans and the ammo so we needed to dump it. We were given a map that included locations of USAF bases where we could refuel on the way back! This was now a Sunday. So the journey started and our first stop was a USAF base I never heard of- Chicksands. After rousting up someone to open the fuel point we were able to gas up. 13 hours after we departed Sculthorpe we arrived back with our shipment of 40mm. The next day when we went to distribute the ammo, you can imagine the surprise when we opened the crates and found what we had was 40mm ammunition for the USAF aircraft cannons. Our young 55B who ordered the ammo never knew having dealt with this type of ammo from a USAF source had ordered the wrong ammo! A 13 hour cross country trip for nada!

I was assigned to carry the 203 iin my unit. The M16 barrel was fitted for 7.62. They gave it to me because no one else wanted to carry the beast. I loved it. I remember the cachunk sound when closing the barrel. I could instinct fire it accurately up to 150 yards. It felt like playing extreme horseshoes.

“Hmmm what do we call our grenade system. It must sound cool and deadly. Got it. GLAD.”

"Say Hello To My Little Friend!"

The grenades available are, or were High Explosive, High Explosive Dual Purpose (aka "Armor Piercing"), Multiple Projectile (aka "Buck Shot"), Fragmentation, Star cluster, Star Parachute, Smoke Canopy, Smoke Ground, Practice, and CS (aka "Tear Gas"). The ranges are 150 meters maximum effective point target, 350 meters maximum effective area target, 400 meters maximum range, 31 meters minimum safe distance combat, 165 meters minimum safe distance training, 14-28 meters arming distance for all but frag, frag arming 7-14 meters.

I served with 3 Squadron of the Australian SASR in Vietnam in 1969 and in a typical five man patrol the patrol commander carried an M16 with an M203 attached. Another patrol member sometimes carried an M79 as well as their normal weapon - an M16 or an SLR (FN FAL). Most patrols would have three M16s and two SLRs - the choice was up to each individual trooper. We did not usually carry sidearms. We also usually carried M26 grenades and Claymores in our packs. I had not realised we were such early adopters of the M203.

A really good weapon. I qualified with one at Ft. Benning

*Me:* Sing me the song of your people! *M203 :* * *PLUNK**

My army buddy pretty much quoted you exactly. Or rather you quoted him, his exact words "Once you get used to it you dont really even need to aim it"

Carried this same setup in the Air Force 2003-05, the M16 it was mounted on was so old it had “AUTO” scratched out and “BURST” crudely engraved next to it.

Now imagine someone coming up to you and handing you _this_ before he gets to the chopper.

Best weapon I carried. I also love the M60.

In about March or April 1969, my platoon 3rd plt,, A co, 2nd bn, 506th, 101st ABN, was issued the M203 for evaluation for approximately one month. They were issued without the peep sight on the side of the weapon and the leaf site was removed but the housing was left in place. We maintained our regular M79s during the evaluation which pretty much gave everybody except the medic and the RTO a grenade launcher. We had the opportunity to use the weapon in combat and it was very effective in projecting a strong presence at night. We developed a tactic of lofting the first round and quickly reloading and firing a second round on a flat trajectory effectively doubling our fire superiority effect. The main element of the grenade launchers for us was the difficulty, at night, to determine where the round was coming from. I wish we had had the M203 on Hamburger Hill with all of its low hanging bunker openings. You are also correct in saying that one could become very proficient with a stripped down M79. There was one fellow in my unit who won a bet by putting five out of five rounds into a well at about 250 meters. Incidentally, the sights on all of our M79s were removed in the field primarily because they rattled. I enjoyed your historical presentation.

I carried that rig in the 80s. I feel so old , LOL.

Imagine if the dude who’s grandpa or dad gave that rifle to the Canadian soldier is watching this video

"get the Roach"

Of all the weapons you've shown, I think this is the one that most needs a range day.

I was issued an M-79 as a ART team member when I was in the Air Force stationed in England, we still had some in inventory. then about a week later they issued the M203. I also carried the M16, and M60.

I've been waiting for this one. We used to have two per 11 man squad.

The whole marine corps still uses this lol it’s anything but forgotten 😂

I was issued an under slung 203 for my posting as late as 2012. I also stayed close by to where I was stationed and in the last 5ish years or so have I heard that we transitioned to the 320

Lugged one of these around Haditha in 07/08. Shot 40 mike from it only like 10 times. Turns out I really don't miss it.